


when you think of love (do you think of pain?)

by WindyRein



Series: Dashboard Confessions [9]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Age Difference, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Claudia Stilinski's Death, I Blame Tumblr, I'm Sorry, Light Angst, M/M, Pre-Series, Twisting Celtic Folklore, Your familiar is a reflection of your soulmate's soul
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-27
Updated: 2016-09-27
Packaged: 2018-08-18 04:13:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 794
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8148754
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WindyRein/pseuds/WindyRein
Summary: When he's born, the snake coils around him. (when he's born he doesn't have a familiar, they say)





	

**Author's Note:**

> So, I saw [this](http://pretzel-log1c.tumblr.com/post/150497884681/lionessonyourback-what-if-there-was-a-soulmate) yesterday and after reading the first paragraph, there was an idea niggling in my brain that had to be written down. Watch me ignoring my longer fics for something short and "light". xD
> 
> Title from [Mess is Mine by Vance Joy](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1C816p-KTNk).

When Arawn is born, his parents and the doctors, nurses, everyone thinks there's something wrong with him. He doesn't have a familiar.

When Arawn starts paying attention to his surroundings, his parents get worried all over again. He keeps reaching for nothing, babbling at empty air, giggling straight out of nowhere.

Aleksander and Claudia are so, so worried but no-one can tell why it is that their precious little boy doesn't seem to have a familiar. But it's fine. It has to be _fine_ because otherwise their little ray of sunshine will end up living a lonely, shunned life and neither of them wants that for him.

When Arawn is four, he tells them that he has a dog called Grim "'cause he's like the ones in Mama's tales about the dogs in the cemeteries". Claudia has absolutely no idea what to make of his son, apparently, having a black dog as his familiar. A familiar no-one else seems capable of seeing.

***

When Peter is born, everyone expects his familiar to be a wolf or a dog or at least a pack animal of some kind, just like his older sister and his mother and his father and most of the rest of the family. None of them know what to make of the huge snake that curls around Peter as soon as he's put down in a crib and doesn't let anyone but Olivia, Peter's mother, anywhere close to him and even that's accompanied by a warning hiss _every_ **_damn_** _time_. A hiss and eyes that never stop accusing and suspecting until Peter is safely among the snake's coils again.

When Peter is five and sees The Jungle Book for the first time, he names the snake Kaa. By that time everyone knows it's a python. Talia rolls her eyes and mumbles something about being obvious. Olivia just coos about how cute it is.

When Peter is twenty-six, Kaa becomes even more protective than usual, more clingy, more suspicious. It gets to the point where Peter can't even meet with friends because his familiar scares them too much. _(no-one cares that everyone knows that a familiar is a reflection of a soulmate's soul and his is clearly suffering)_

Until one afternoon, when Kaa just suddenly goes limp, seems to stop caring about everything and anything. The only thing that stays the same is the way Kaa refuses to let Peter leave him anywhere.

***

When Arawn is ten, he becomes Stiles. He spends more nights crying into Grim's fur than he spends sleeping. Grim growls at Jackson more than ever before, even if the boy can't hear it, even if the boy's words don't hurt as much as Mama's. Grim curls around him wherever he can fit, which isn't in that many places, mostly Stiles' bed. Grim is the only solid thing in his life, it seems. _(and isn't that ironic considering he's ethereal more than anything)_

Until one afternoon when Stiles does what Mama asks and Grim howls in mourning while Stiles cries and cries and listens to the never-ending high-pitched wail of the heart monitor.

When Stiles is ten and nine months, he wakes up to Grim howling and whining and rolling on the ground like he's trying to put out a fire. Stiles' frantic questions and pleas for what's wrong bring the Sheriff running to the room _(and for the first time he stops and just stares at the huge snow white wolf next to his son's bed)_ just a moment before the phone rings downstairs and calls the Sheriff to work on what ends up being one of the worst nights of his life on the job.

***

When Peter is twenty-seven, he burns and burns and _burns_.

***

When Stiles is ten and nine months, Grim stops moving and just sleeps and sleeps and _sleeps_.

***

When Peter is twenty-seven, Kaa curls on his chest and refuses to let anyone close. The doctors are amazed when they start seeing marks of healing even without treatment. They attribute it to an uncommonly strong bond between soulmates.

***

When Stiles is fifteen, Grim stirs for the first time in years.

***

When Peter is thirty-two, he feels Kaa's tongue flicking against his face just for a moment.

***

When Stiles is sixteen, he shows up to school with a monstrous white wolf that has terrible scarring on its right side and mean red eyes.

***

When Peter is thirty-three, he gets to run under the Moon's light for the first time in years. Kaa is draped around his shoulders.

***

When they meet for the first time, Stiles bursts into tears and runs to Peter.

When they meet for the first time, Peter wraps his arms around Stiles and swears he'll wipe out the Argent family for his soulmate.

**Author's Note:**

> Missed tags are appreciated and reviews are loved. :)
> 
> [Arawn](http://www.20000-names.com/male_welsh_names.htm) possibly meaning unrestrained wildness (yay for accurate sources xD) and also being a Welsh myth name for the Lord of [Annwn](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annwn) (Celtic underworld of delights & eternal youth).
> 
> [Church grims](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_Grim) being one of the many incarnations of black dogs in European folklore and also, the spirits of dogs buried alive into churchyards so they would guard the church. (because clearly that's such a Christian thing to do -.-)
> 
> Stiles' familiar being [a Cŵn Annwn](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C%C5%B5n_Annwn) with the exception of its eyes being red instead of its ears. (here's to hoping none of the fair folk will kill me for messing with one of theirs) Stiles names him after a church grim because he's clearly a spirit dog and a protector, even if he protects Stiles and not a building... and is not black.
> 
> Peter's familiar being [a Macklot's python](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liasis_mackloti) chosen because pythons are ambush predators in general, so you most likely won't see them coming, and also, because this python in particular is described as poor-tempered and the thought of Peter having an over-protective grumpy snake makes me cackle. (also, just imagine baby Peter in a cradle of coils, isn't it just adorable? *coos*) Also, Peter named Kaa when he was five, give him a break. :D
> 
> Can you see how much unnecessary thought I put into this? xD But yeah, I really like playing in this 'verse and with this concept, even if I became far too attached to the format I was writing in and couldn't make it longer. :D
> 
> (also, also, that's not a plothole. it's a... author doesn't have a simple concrete explanation for this hole xD)
> 
> aaaand if you want to, you can come throw your soulmate au ideas at [me](http://poutingtrolltroll.tumblr.com/) and we can scream about them together. :D


End file.
